ABOHARKILLED: Surender Kumar (15) and Tehal Singh (20) were killed in two separate accidents on Friday. Police sources said Surender Kumar died on the spot when a three-wheeler in which he was travelling collided with a jeep at Killianwali village. Tehal Singh of Narayanpura village was killed when a canter being driven by him overturned near Sardarpura village on the Abohar-Hanumangarh road.

SNAKE-BITE: Jamna Devi (60) of Roopnagar village died of snake-bite on Thursday. She died on her way to the hospital.

MARTYRDOM DAY: Martyrdom day of Shaheed Udham Singh will be observed by the Ferozepore Kamboj Sabha on July 31 here. A meeting presided over by Mr Harkrishan Lal Nadha urged the Union Government to release authenticated profile book about the great martyr on that day.

DRAMA CLUB AWARDS: A local dramatic club “Aks” won the Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (female) award at all-India Drama Competition which concluded at Kalibari (Shimla) on June 25. The team was given a rousing reception on its return here on Thursday.

AHMEDGARHRALLY: Senior vice-president of Punjab Kisan Sangarsh Committee told Ludhiana Tribune that farmers of the area had shown an overwhelming response towards preparation of the state-level rally, scheduled to be held on July 7 at Grain Market, Raikot. Briefing the proceedings of the meetings held at Chhapar, Dhulkot, Mawrana Kalan, Rchhin, Jand, Jurahan, Rangoowa, Latala and other villages, he said farmers had shown concern about GATT agreement, pending electricity connections, irregular power supply and loan waving. Delegate session of the state committee would also be held on July 7 at Grewal Marriage Palace, he added.

DISABILITY
ALLOWANCE: The DC’s sangat darshan is his last hope, says Surinder Kumar, who has been constantly visiting District Social Secretary Office at Sangrur for the past many months for getting the allowance for his disabled son released. It was abruptly discontinued in September, 1999, after being paid for more than two years. In a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner and other high officials, the poor father has alleged that the staff of the DSSO kept harassing him alongwith his 10-year-old son, Vikas, who has been declared 100 per cent disabled. Besides cerebral palsy, he suffers from motoral disability of all the four limbs. Since April, 2000, he has visited the office about 12 times, but every time he was told that the allowance would be deposited in his bank account within a week or so. Last time, when he visited the office on May 7, he was told by the officer concerned that allowance would positively be released this time. But again nothing happened. Now he hopes to get justice only at the DC’s sangat darshan scheduled to be held at Kup on Sunday.

AMLOHMEETING: Mr Kuldeep Singh Sahota, district president of Punjab Pradesh Balmik Sabha, stated in a press note released here on Friday that a meeting of workers belonging to Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts would be held on July 8 at Balmik Dharamshala, Banur, in Patiala district.

AMRITSARANTI-DRUGS RALLY: Three social welfare societies will organise an anti-drug campaign by holding a rally at Focal Point, Chowk Mehta on Sunday. The rally will be addressed by the Health and Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, who will be the chief guest. The guest of honour will be Mr Kirpal Singh, President of the Chief Khalsa Diwan while Mr Ajaypal Singh Meerankot, MLA, will preside over the rally.

PLAY OPPOSED: Various Hindu organisations have taken a serious note of the proposed play on the life of Lord Krishna to be staged on Saturday by the Punjab Natshala at its meeting on Thursday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Shiv Sena (Bal Thakarey), the Arya Samaj, the Hindu Suraksha Samiti, the All-India Hindu Shiv Sena, the Bajrang Dal, the Brahmin Sabha, the Rashtriya Suraksha Samiti and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh etc.

BARNALAREMANDED: Eight persons who had been remanded in police custody for trespassing on the office of Mr Ashok Goel, an advocate, have now been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. A case had been registered under Sections 380, 457, 506 and 120 B of the IPC.

PROBE DEMANDED: Mr Ved Parkash Tallewalia, president the local Kutcha Arhtiyas Association has demanded a probe into the corruption by procurement agencies, Markfed, Punsup, Warehousing Corporation and the Punjab Agro Industries, in the procurement of wheat during the current wheat season at Barnala and its adjoining grain markets. The association has written a letter in this regard to the Punjab Chief Minister.

THIEVES ARRESTED: Three members of the gang involved in the rice and wheat thefts in the government godowns were arrested by the Tapa police on Wednesday. Mr Ajaib Singh Kaleka, SSP, Barnala, said Nirmal Singh, Balor Singh and Jangir Singh, were arrested by the police while they were carrying about 15 bags of stolen rice in a Jeep. He said Balor Singh worked as a ‘palledar’ where as Jangir Singh, an SPO, served as a watchman at the FCI godown, Tapa.

RECOVERED: Following the intensification of drive against anti-social elements here, the Bhadaur police arrested three thieves on Wednesday. Amandeep Singh, Balbir Singh and Sukhchain Singh were said to be responsible for the theft of colour televisions, VCR cassettes, gold and silver ornaments and cash at Bhadaur and Shehna villages.

DERA BASSIMAN FOUND DEAD: Maman Din, a worker with a Ludhiana-based company, constructing a flyover at Bhankharpur level crossing, was found dead drowned in a water tank at the project site on Thursday night. Maman Din’s friends got suspicious when they found his clothes by a big water tank at the site. The body was fished out from the tank. The body was sent to Rajpura Hospital for postmortem examination. A case under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered.

HOSHIARPUR
GHERAOED: Students of the local ITI boycotted their classes and gheraoed Mr Bhupinder Singh Kapur, Additional Director, Punjab Technical Training Institutes, for more than two hours here on Thursday. Mr Kirpal Singh Lali, president ITI Students Union, said the gherao was in protest against hike in the fees.

PENSIONERS SORE: The Punjab Pensioners Welfare Association on Thursday criticised the state government for its anti-pensioners policy. Mr Mohinder Singh Parwana, president of the association, said the government was not implementing its decision to increase the pensions as was announced by the Finance Minister in April. He demanded the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission report.

CASE REGISTERED: On the complaint of the Deputy Divisional Forest Officer, Hoshiarpur, the Sadar police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC against Balwinder Singh of Dada village for illegal felling and stealing Khair trees from the Dada Forest area. Officials of the
Forest Department had intercepted a truck loaded with Khair logs on Wednesday.

FATAL INJURIES: Dhera Singh of Khajurla, in Sadar police station area of Phagwara, succumbed to his injuries at the local Civil Hospital on Wednesday. He was seriously injured when his scooter hit a speeding jeep, near Naloian chowk on Wednesday. The police has registered a case under Sections 279 and 304A of the IPC.

SEMINAR: A seminar on AIDS was organised at Police Recruits Training Centre, Jahan Khelan, by the District AIDS Control Society on Wednesday. Mr Gurmit Singh Virk, DSP, presided over the function. Emphasis was laid on the precautionary measures to prevent the disease.

KAPURTHALA2 DEAD: Two Bihari labourers, Abhinandan and Dalip, received fatal injuries on Wednesday night when they
accidentally fell from a tractor, near Bhano Langa village. The police has registered a case and handed over the bodies to next of kin of the deceased.

POPPY HUSK SEIZED: The Bholath police has arrested Bishnu, a native of Bihar, on the charge of possessing 10 kg of poppy husk. He had allegedly confessed to his crime and said he used to bring the drug from Bihar for selling it to the local addicts. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered.

KHAMANOCOMPENSATION: Compensation cheques worth Rs 1.41 lakh will be distributed to the farmers, who had sold their paddy at a price lower than the MSP, in the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate on July 3. This was stated by Mr Nirbhai Singh, the SDM, on Friday.

LUDHIANATRAINING PROGRAMME: The Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, PAU, Ludhiana had organised a programme on ‘Advanced Trends in Interior Design Technologies’ from June 21 to June 30 2001. The programme is sponsored by Indian Council of Agricultural Universities. A number of teachers from agri-universities attended this course. As a part of this programme, a special one-day training and demonstration was conducted by experts. While giving information Dr (Ms) R. Bakhshi, Associate Professor of Family Resource Management, said this training would be beneficial for the teachers to impart training to the students in the new elective programme in the field of family resource management.

STRIKE: The District Chemists and Druggists Association has threatened to give a call for an indefinite strike from July 3, if the administration failed to drop charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act pressed against some city chemists who have been arrested. The meeting was chaired by president of the association Vinod Sharma. The president criticised the role of police who raided the shops without involving the competent authority, the drug inspector. Mr Lalit Verma, general secretary of the association, said the judgement from the High Court stated that no police officer of any rank was authorised by the law to raid a chemist shop. The members appealed to the administration to depute the drug inspector to investigate the whole matter pertaining to the seizure of the medicines.

CONTEST: Run up to the Nazakat Ms Teen Ethnic 2001 was organised here at the VLCC on Thursday. The event was judged by Ms Arunima, Lakme Model, Ms Poonam Walia, Miss World Punjaban 2nd runner up and Ms Nisha of the VLCC. Competition for three subtitles, mrignayani, jalwa-e-muskan, husn-e-zulf , were held. The contest is a part of Infotrac’s Nex Gen Carnival 2001, organised by Pragati India Group and Pronetra Infotainment. The finals of the carnival will be held on June 30 at Nehru Siddhant Kendra. According to a press statement, the event has been organised to promote the personality and talent of teenagers. Similar competitions would be held tomorrow at the Institute of Folk Dances which will be judged by Mr Manpreet, director of the institute.

MALERKOTLAAWARD: The District Governor Rtn Rajinder Taneja announced the District Best Secretary award for Rtn Jatinder Singla, advocate, secretary Rotary Club, Malerkotla out of 70 clubs of Rotary District 3090. He will be honoured at a prize distribution function at Rotary Bhavan, Patiala on July 15.

MOGA
FOODGRAIN SAMPLES: As many as six samples of foodgrain, of the 170 taken by the Department of Agriculture, have been found substandard. This was stated here on Thursday by the District Agriculture Officer, Mr Kartar Singh Brar. He said appropriate action would be taken against the guilty.

TUBEWELLS: The Punjab State Electricity Board has released 142 tubewell connections in the district, while 326 more connections would be released soon. This was stated here on Thursday by officials of the board at a meeting of district officials chaired by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Kanwalbir Singh Sidhu.

SAMRALA
PROMOTEES’ LIST RELEASED: The long-awaited list of promotions to the posts of Principals (PES-II) was released by the Education Department on Thursday. This was disclosed by Mr Bihari Lal, vice-president, Government Secondary Schools’ Teachers Union, Punjab, here on Friday. Talking to the mediapersons at the local Civil Rest House, Mr Lal said out of total 174 promotees, there were 14 headmasters/ headmistress, 79 male lecturers and 81 female lecturers. Welcoming the release of the list, Mr Saddi expressed dismay at non-inclusion of the names of those headmasters/lecturers who got retired on or after March 31, 1996, in the list. He demanded national promotions of the retirees with effect from the date their promotions were due.

RESENTMENT: There was a wide-spread resentment amongst the Congress workers and leaders of Samrala area against the appointment of Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran as the Congress president, Ludhiana district (rural). This was
disclosed by the press secretary of the Youth Congress, Mr Vikesh Tewari. At a meeting of the Congress workers here on Friday, presided over by Mr Jasbir Singh Dhillon, councillor, Samrala, it was demanded that a more faithful and committed person should replace Mr Lapran inorder to mollify the party workers.

SANGRUR
CENTRE FOR DISABLED: Under the national programme for the rehabilitation of the disabled, a district disability rehabilitation centre will be set up at a cost of Rs 25 lakh here in the first week of July. Mr Rajesh Dhiman, Assistant Commissioner (General), said this on Wednesday.

TARN TARANPOLICE-POST GHERAOED: Members of the Punjab Khet Majdoor Union and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Thursday gheraoed the police post at Kang and blocked traffic in protest against the booking of a union leader, Gurmukh Singh Dinewal, allegedly in a false case under Sections 107 and 151, Cr.PC. Gurmukh Singh had gone to the police post for the settlement of a dispute where he was booked in a false case. Mr Balbir Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, reached the spot and assured the agitating workers that justice would be done.

CHANDIGARH

SAPLINGS PLANTED: About 200 saplings of medicinal, fruit and flowering plants were planted during a tree plantation programme organised by the State Bank of Patiala at Government College of Arts in Sector 10 here on Friday. Inaugurating the plantation drive, Mr V.N. Ojha, Principal Secretary to the Punjab Government, appreciated the social activities undertaken by the bank.

SHIMLA TOUR: A seven-day educational-cum-recreational tour of 40 girl students from slums and colonies to Shimla returned here on Friday. This tour was organised by the Society for Social Health in collaboration with the Chandigarh Social Advisory Board. The participants visited many places like the Indian Institute of Advance Study, the All-India Radio Station, Shimla, and several historical temples in and around Shimla.

CTCC CELL’S DEMANDS: The Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee Traders Cell on Friday urged the Chandigarh Administration to pass notification regarding summary/deemed/self assessment and sought increase in limit for the same to Rs 5 crore, as had been passed by the Haryana Government. The president of the unit also urged for the issuance of notification of the building bye laws regarding commercial property. The unit also sought amendment in the Food Adulteration Act to treat substandard and adulterated items separately. The unit also urged the traders not to indulge in malpractices regarding weighing and selling of substandard products.

HOUSING SOCIETY: The following have been elected office-bearers of the managing committee of the Silverton Cooperative House Building Society: president — Mr Balwinder Singh Cheema; vice-president — Mr Jaswant Singh. general secretary — Mr S.R. Kaushal and treasurer — Mr Madan Lal Sachdeva.

SAMATA APPOINTEES: Samata Party’s national president, Mr V.V. Krishnarao has appointed Mr Hemraj convener of the local unit of the party and appointed 29 active members to the ad hoc committee. A meeting of the party will be held on Sunday.

FAST TO CONTINUE: In a general body meeting of the Chandigarh Auto Mechanic Federation held on Friday, it was decided that the indefinite fast by Mr Hazari Lal would continue till the administration accepted all the demands of the federation. The federation also made it clear that it has no affiliation with the Hind Mazdoor
Sabha.

SAS NAGARMEDICAL EXAMINATION: Acting on a complaint by residents of Phase 7 that a mentally unstable mother and son duo living here were creating public nuisance, the Subdivisional Magistrate on Friday asked the Superintendent of Police to get the duo medically examined. The SDM asked the police officials to send the boy to mental hospital if required.

HARYANA

ROHTAKREFRESHER COURSE: The local Gaur Brahmin Degree College, recently conducted a refresher course for the SC and ST students for their educational uplift. Dr J.N. Sharma, coordinator of the course, said the college received an enthusiastic response from the students and the college governing body had decided to start another refresher course on a large scale for students of all categories.

COMMITTEE FORMED: A six-member education committee was constituted to ensure the smooth functioning of the government primary schools in the district at a meeting of the zila parishad held on Thursday. According to official sources, the committee comprised Mr Dharampal Makrauli, Chairman, Zila Parishad, Mr Narendra Sharma of Hasangarh, Suresh Nandal of Bohar, Mr Ashok Kumar of Farmana, Ms Usha Parmar of Samar Gopalpur and Ms Raj Kumari of Balam, all members of the Zila Parishad.

SONEPATARRESTED: The Kharkhauda police has arrested Sandeep, alias Samsher, alias Kala, on the charge of theft on Thursday. According to a report, the police has recovered a car allegedly stolen from Delhi from him. A case of theft has been registered.

ONE INJURED: Dharamvir of Qumashpur village was seriously injured when a truck overturned on the GT Road, 13 km from here, on Thursday. The injured was immediately hospitalised.

ACCIDENT: Two persons were seriously injured when a truck hit a Maruti car on the GT Road near Murthal Chowk, about 8 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, they were rushed to the Civil Hospital here for treatment. The police has registered a case against the driver of the truck.

SUICIDE:
Neelam is reported to have committed suicide by taking Celphos tablets in her house at Sikandarpur Majra village, 30 km from here, on Thursday. According to a report, a family quarrel is stated to be the cause of suicide.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHANAUCTION CANCELLED: The Executive Officer of the Sirmaur Agriculture Development Project, Mr Rajesh Kumar, has said the auction, inviting tenders for kisan bhavans at Paonta, Dadahu and Rajgarh, has been cancelled.

KISAN CREDIT CARDS: The Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur, Mr Rakesh Kaushal, said here on Thursday that Kisan Credit Cards worth Rs 3.87 crore had been distributed, so far during the current financial year, which had benefited 970 farmers. He was addressing the meeting of bankers and officers of the district and said it was necessary that banks achieved their targets to make various department schemes worth while.

TOMATO BLIGHT: The blight disease in tomatoes in certain pockets of Nahan and Pachhad was under control, said the Deputy Director, Agriculture, Mr Om Pal Singh, who visited Nihog, Saroga and Manjheli villages recently along with a team of scientists from Dhaulakuan Research Centre.

NURPURSUPPORT EXTENDED: The Himachal Pradesh Ayurvedic Doctors Association has extended its support to the striking resident doctors and interns of Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. Mr Sanjiv Guleria, state president, in a press note here on Friday said the state government’s decision to run civil hospitals through societies and the imposition of user charges on health services was unwarranted and unjustified.

SHIMLAWORKSHOP: A two-day workshop to educate medical officers on ‘rational use of drugs’ concluded here on Thursday. Experts from the Delhi Society for the Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs delivered lectures on the topic.

PRIZE DISTRIBUTION: Dr Suraj Bhan, Governor, has underlined the need for providing multiple forums and ample opportunities to the students to improve their creative skills. Speaking at the prize distribution function of the painting competition organised by a national daily, here on Thursday, he said besides studies, students should be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities for the all round development. Himaka Sema of Bishop Cotton School, Kamakshi of Ved Vihar Public School and Ishan of St Edwards School won the first prize in the senior, middle and junior categories, respectively.

DECISION
CRITICISED: The decision of the authorities to ban plying of ambulances in the sealed areas of The Mall, The Ridge and the Middle Bazaar has been criticised by the general public and councillors of the Shimla Municipal Corporation. The
councillors, Mr Ravinder Singh Thakur, Mr Sohan Lal, Mr Satish Verma and Mr I D Lakhanpal demanded that the decision should be reviewed. Meanwhile, Mr P C
Katoch, Deputy Commissioner, said he had not banned the movement of ambulances and had only warned against their misuse as it had been found that some of these were being used for purposes other than carrying patients.